Larry King: That Piers Morgan is Awfully Self-Absorbed, Isn’t He?

For years Larry King hosted the CNN show that is now helmed by British import Piers Morgan. Now King has opened up about his replacement and his pronouncement is not very flattering. King thinks Morgan makes the show too much about Morgan.

For those who remember, Larry King was more about being a conduit for the guests to entertain and enlighten viewers. His idea, perhaps an old fashioned TV ideal, was to make the show less about Larry King and more about the guests his viewers tuned in to watch.

King was old school in that way. We never learned much about the life or personal opinions of Jack Parr or Johnny Carson when they were hosting the Tonight Show, either. Those two icons let the guests speak and made their shows about the entertainment. For the most part, Larry King modeled himself on that classic version of the TV interview show.

“I never gave opinions,” King said of his own CNN show. “Piers gives his opinions. The show is a lot about him as much as the guests… He’s so different from me,” King lamented.

King also worried over the state of TV today, saying, “It’s not the quality that counts anymore. It’s how loud did you yell, how vituperative can you be.”

That describes well Piers Morgan whose recent shows have been filled with him yelling over guests, calling them “stupid” and “dangerous,” and advocating for his purported better and wholly foreign concept of how America should work compared to what we have had for over 200 years. All the while Morgan gives lip service to “civility” and after calling guests names tells his audience that he “values” everyone’s opinions as if just saying it excuses his behavior.

King may often have had a boring show but at least he wasn’t such a jerk to his guests. Yes, King was old school in that way. Courteous. Apparently that is something with which Morgan is unfamiliar. King understood real civility. Not the faux civility Morgan perpetrates on his audience.

So, what does Piers Morgan say about all this. In his typically perspicacious way, Morgan stampeded to his favorite medium for instant communication. On Twitter, the Brit Tweeted the following bit of eloquence: “Zzzzzzz.”

See. Morgan’s so smart and civil he didn’t even need all 140 characters.

Politico wanted to give Morgan a second chance to elucidate a bit on his “Zzzzzzz” Tweet. In response, Morgan referred them back to his Tweet.

Warner Todd Huston

Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago-based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart's BigGovernment.com, BigJournalsim.com and all Breitbart News' other sites, RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, and many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs across the country to discuss his opinion editorials and current events as well as appearing on TV networks such as CNN, Fox News, Fox Business Network, and various Chicago-based news programs.
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